Telltale Signs
Jeff Moser
For six agonizing days in March, massive earth-moving machines and stout tugboats labored around the clock to free the 1,312-foot, 2-inch
Ever Given from the Suez Canal mud. An estimated $9.6 billion worth of goods transported daily on the 120-mile east-west connector was stuck.
It finally took an alignment of the celestial bodies and a high, perigean spring tide to free the ship and allow the 450 vessels idling in the Mediterranean and Red seas to begin to pass. The true costs still remain difficult to quantify, but one thing is for certain: The grounding happened at a time when the delicate supply-chain balance was already stretched and vulnerable.
Going, Going, Gone
Author:
Feb 26, 2021
There’s a stillness to winter during those first two months of the new year that a great expanse of our country experiences. The cold and snow make themselves at home, and we settle into a collective torpor as we prepare for life after the thaw.
As I write this, it’s a few hours after that time of day when I needed to make hay the sun was shining, but its rays seemed to be just providing illumination, as my weather app read 22 degrees, with the wind chill knocking it down to 14. Too cold for cycling, and besides, the roads are narrowed by mountains of snow. I bundle up, slip a wool sweater on the dog, and head out.
Quick Hits: January 29, 2021
Author:
Jan 29, 2021
Volvo Group continues its commitment to renewable, electric power with the formation of Volvo Energy. The company said the new business arm will provide new-generation batteries and charging solutions, starting with its on-road commercial segment. It also will offer remanufactured and refurbished batteries to other green-minded businesses. “Our ambition is to offer our customers the most competitive solutions when it comes to electrification, including batteries and charging infrastructure,” president and CEO Martin Lundstedt said in a statement. “With Volvo Energy, we are taking a holistic view of the entire life cycle, which benefits both our customers’ business and society as a whole.”
A Little Help from our Friends
Author:
So it is with the recently released
MRAA’s Guide to Boat Show Success, a good read for every dealer, manufacturer and any other boat-show exibitor trying to navigate into 2021 amid the Covid-19 crisis.
The focus of the guide is to present tools, expert advice and proven examples of how to be succesful in the 2021 boat-show season, with or without in-person events. It attempts to walk readers through a successful show season in nearly 60 pages of content, including dealer case studies and lessons learned from virtual events.
“As we enter 2021, dealers and manufacturers have many questions surrounding the uncertainty of boat shows, whether in-person or online,” MRAA president Matt Gruhn says. “The
Dealer Week 2020 Was âAnother Firstâ
Author:
Dec 14, 2020
The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas’ Dealer Week 2020 focused on the issues that recreational marine retailers are facing today in light of the pandemic a dynamic that has amplified challenges dealers were having already.
“Once again, [MRAA president] Matt Gruhn and his team came up with another first,” Joe Lewis, owner of Mount Dora Boating Center and Marina, told
Trade Only Today. “Last year they reinvented the conference and expo with the first Dealer Week, and this year they reinvented it again. That team has not met face to face since last March. They were able to do all of this remotely.”